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Penfield Players Announce 2020 Awards and Plans for 2021

Due to the pandemic, and the fact that the performing arts have not yet been reopened in New York, the Penfield Players are postponing their spring 2021 show, “Art of Murder,” until spring 2022. The decision was made in the best interest of the audiences. They will present the show as their spring 2022 main stage offering. 

They still plan to present “The Haunting of Hill House” this fall, beginning with the last weekend in October at Penfield Community Center. Jerry Argetsinger will direct. He directed the very popular 2019 spring show “Peril on the High Seas,” among many other Penfield Players offerings. At their board meeting in December 2020, the Penfield Players announced two awards: the annual Player of the Year Award and a special award—the Lifetime Achievement Award—to recognize two people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their dedication and service to the Penfield Players.

Karen Craft was awarded Player of the Year for 2020. Karen has performed for the Penfield Players on many occasions, most notably in the main stage productions of “Born Yesterday” in 2013 and “Red Herring” in 2017, and in several staged readings, including “Loot” and “Cinderella Waltz.” She joined the Penfield Players board in 2016 as Vice President and President-Elect, and she was president of the board from 2018 until 2020. Under her leadership, the Players’ logo was revised, a new website created, by-laws updated, and the Players became involved in the Rochester Fringe Festival for the first time. The group also presented four main stage productions and numerous Readers’ Theatres, including the first two done outdoors at Penfield Amphitheater and Kiwanis Stage.

Bill Buttle was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his approximately 18 years of service to the Penfield Players. An employee of the Penfield Facilities Department, he has been assisting with productions by handling the necessary and important, but less glamorous, aspects of production, from auditions through performances. He makes sure the building is open when needed, sets up and takes down audition and rehearsal space, helps set lights during our week of technical rehearsals, sets up for all performances, including audience seating, the “green room” space for the actors, concession stand and box office, and anything else necessary to the logistics of productions. 

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